Will
the world end on December 21st, 2012? That’s what some say, attributing
it to a Maya prophecy.

The
belief has been around in some form since the 1960s. Books have been written
about it, it’s been discussed on television, and a really forgettable
Hollywood movie was made about it.

People
have actually contacted NASA asking the space agency if they should kill
themselves and their children.

The
phenomenon has its adherents in many countries. You can find them in the
U.S., the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, China and Latin America.

But
even the purveyors of the hysteria (some of whom have made a lot of money)
aren’t in agreement on what actually is prophesied to occur on December
21st, 2012.

Is it
the end of the world, and if so by what means (collision with the Planet
Niburu or a black hole are two candidates).

Or rather
than destruction of the planet is it “just” destruction of
civilization? In a Super Bowl ad, General Motors portrayed a destruction
of civilization which can, however, be survived by a man and his dog in
a Chevy Silverado. (See
ad here).

Other
2012 promoters approach it from another angle, predicting that December
21st will usher in a new “cosmic consciousness” or something
like that. It’s easier to backpedal from that prediction than to
claim the world will end and not have it end, which is rather obvious.

The
Maya were – and are – an indigenous ethnic group dwelling
in what is now eastern Mexico and western Central America. Their civilization
flourished in the first millennium A.D. The Maya constructed cities, ceremonial
centers, pyramids and roads in the region, which was not ruled by a unitary
Maya empire but by rival Maya city-states. The Maya were gifted in mathematics
and astronomy and used several different calendars. Today, tourists can
visit Maya ruins in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Did
the Maya actually predict something cataclysmic or transcendent on December
21st, 2012?

The
date in the Maya calendar which corresponds to December 21st, 2012 is
mentioned a few times in Maya inscriptions, but so are many other dates.
The Maya worked with distant dates and big numbers, and they projected
dates far in the future in order to relate them to their own times . These
are projections, not prophecies.

The
most famous inscription mentioning this date was found at the Tortuguero
site in Tabasco state in Mexico. This particular inscription is damaged
and incomplete, its meaning obscure and disputed. It’s not much
to base a theory on.

Furthermore,
the “Temple of the Inscriptions” (Chiapas state in Mexico)
has a projected date inscribed that corresponds to 4772 A.D. If you believed
the world would end in 2012 would you project a date of 4772?

What
actually is significant about the December 21st, 2012 date in the Maya
calendar is that it’s the end of the 13th b’aktún.
(A b’aktún is a period of 394.3 years ).

Despite
all the hoopla and hysteria, there is no Maya prophecy of the end of the
world.

Here
are some quotes from recognized scholars in the field who study Maya archaeology:

Mark
van Stone of FAMSI(Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies,
Inc.) :"There is nothing in the Maya or Aztec or ancient Mesoamerican
prophecy to suggest that they prophesied a sudden or major change of any
sort in 2012.”

Susan
Milbrath, curator of Latin American Art and Archaeology at Florida Museum
of Natural History : “We have no record or knowledge that [the Maya]
would think the world would come to an end” in 2012.

David
Stuart (University of Texas) calls it “complete nonsense”
and says it’s promoted by "gurus and spiritualists who wouldn't
know a Maya glyph if one hit them on the nose.”

It’s
neither Maya experts nor the contemporary Maya themselves who are the
principal purveyors of the 2012 hysteria. It’s mostly “New
Age” gurus who, in typical cafeteria religion style take what they
want from the old Maya religion and mix it with other elements.

Do the
people who believe in the supposed Maya prophecy believe in the traditional
Maya religion? Do they worship Maya idols? Do they practice bloodletting,
human sacrifice or the strapping of boards to baby’s heads to give
them long foreheads? These were Maya customs, so in the interests of authenticity
are they practicing them?

No,
they just take a supposed Maya prophecy and hitch it on their other New
Age beliefs.

The
so-called Maya prophecy is both inauthentically Maya and religiously inconsistent.

Why
would Christians believe in a supposed Maya prophecy when they have the
Bible and Jesus Christ’s own prediction of His return? Since Christians
don’t know the date of the return of Christ and aren’t supposed
to set the date, why would they run after a so-called Maya prophecy?

Certainly,
2012 has been a rough year, but it has nothing to do with a non-existent
Maya prophecy utilized to make its purveyors a lot of money.

Not
that Maya archaeology isn’t fascinating. It is. But peddling the
Maya Calendar 2012 End of the World nonsense isn’t the way to study
it.